Railroad track construction



INVENTOR.

PER/vm. M /VELsaN J/.s' Arran/ry.

United States Patent "ce 3,499,604 RAILROAD TRACK CONSTRUCTION Permil N. Nelson, Box 50S, Galesburg, Ill. 61401 Filed Apr. 25, 1968, Ser. No. 724,049 Int. Cl. E01b 11/06 U.S. Cl. 23S-230 2 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE SUMMARY OF INVENTION An end portion of a railroad track having an exposed oblique mating surface, and having formed in its vertical leg between the base flange and rail head an enlarged body section including an extension that extends longitudinally beyond the end portion of the mating end surface of the track and which is adapted to lie in facial abutment and be connected to the vertical leg portion of a correspondingly formed reversely positioned confronting track end.

This invention includes a new and novel means for securing together the confronting end surfaces of railroad tracks in such a manner as to provide a nonsepara ble track without the necessity of additional independent connectors.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

`FIG. 1 is a perspective view of connected confronting track sections incorporating this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary detailed sectional View taken on line 2 2 of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

In FIG. l there is shown abutting ends of track sections and 11 connected together to form a continuous track. Each of the end portions of the track sections 10 and 11 are of similar construction, and merely reversely positioned so as to be oppositely disposed with respect to one another as seen in FIG. 2.

Each rail section end includes a base flange 12, a vertically extending leg 13, and a substantially rectangularly shaped rail head 14.

'Ille leg 13 has formed thereon as an integral part thereof a web projecting laterally to one side thereof so as to increase the thickness of the leg 13 at its point of termination into an oblique end wall 16.

vThe web 15 continues beyond the oblique end wall 16 of the leg 13 so as to provide an extension 17 which lies to one side of the longitudinal axis of the leg 13. This extension 17 fonns a splice plate which, when connected to the confronting Wall surface 18 of the abutting end portion of an adjacent track section, forms a reinforced point of connection thereto.

To connect the splice plate 17 to the adjacent confronting wall surface 18 of the web 15 provided by the abut- 3,499,604 Patented Mar. 10, 1970 ting end of the next track section the splice plate 17, as Iwell as the web 15, is provided with aligned holes '19 and 20, respectively, that receive the shank portions of connecting bolts 21, such as is shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

rIhe confronting wall surfaces 18 of each of the abutting end portions of the webs 15 intermediate the holes 20 has formed therein pockets 22 which when the holes 19 and 20 have been aligned and have received the connecting bolts 21 will confront openings 23 formed through the splice plate 17. Positioned within the openings 23 are restraining pins 24. These restraining pins 24 are of a length greater than the thickness of the splice plate 17 so as to extend beyond either side thereof. The inner end of the pin 24 is provided with an enlarged conical shaped head 25, which is of a size slightly greater than the pocket 22 formed in the web 15.

In connecting abutting end sections together as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the splice plates 17 of each section 10 and 11, are positioned to opposite sides of the respective webs 15. The pins 24 have been inserted into the openings 23 with the enlarged heads 25 positioned to be in alignment with the pockets 22. The connecting bolts 21 are journaled through the holes 19 and 20 and are drawn up tight so that the heads 25 of the pins 24 are slightly projected into the pockets 32 such as is shown in FIG. 2. The exposed ends 26 of the pins 24 are then struck with a suitable tool so as to embed the heads 25 into the pockets 22. The bolts are tightened so that all of the longitudinally extending wall surfaces between the abutting end portions of the track sections 10 and 11 are in contact, and then the exposed ends 26 of the pins 24 are struck until their exposed ends 26 are swedged onto the wall of the splice plate 17, positively connecting the pins to their respective plates 17.

The abutting ends of the track sections 10 and 11 are thereby secured together against lateral separation by the connecting bolts 21 while the restraining pins 24 prevent vibrational movement between the ends of the track sections when the track is in use.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention.` I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An end construction for a railroad track having a base ange, a vertical leg and a rail head, an oblique track joint between the adjacent ends of tracks disposed in end-toend relationship, wherein the improvement comprises:

(a) an extension member on one side of the vertical leg of the track and extending beyond the oblique joint between abutting track ends to overlie the horizontally aligned vertical leg of the adjacent track,

(b) means extending through said extension member and the juxtapositioned vertical leg of the adjacent track end connecting the track ends together, and

(c) means for preventing vibrational movement between the connected track ends comprising restraining pins carried by said extension member and of a length greater than the thickness thereof so as to 3 4 extend beyond opposite sides theref, said pins each and to abut the confronting side of the juxtapositioncd providing an enlarged conical shaped head adapted leg of the adjacent track opposite its web to form a reto be forcibly projected into receiving pockets formed inforced surface connection between the track ends. in the vertical leg 0f the adjacent track, and an exposed Opposite end which may be swedged onto the 5 References Cited wall of the extension member to connect the same UNITED STATES PATENTS thereto' 1,132,461 3/1915 Dimm 23S-236 v2. An end construction for a railroad track as dened by claim 1 wherein said extension member comprises a 1619716 3/1927 Gal 23S- 235 web integrally formed on the vertical leg of the track to increase the thickness thereof and to provide a splice 10 ARTHUR L' LA POINT Primary Exammer plate of a length equal to the length of the Web so as to R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner extend beyond the oblique joint between adjacent tracks 

